


Closet

by superslothic



Category: Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider Series
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 15:32:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/888880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superslothic/pseuds/superslothic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuuto doesn’t know it yet, but when Hana is born, he will cry. Like a baby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closet

**Author's Note:**

> So, it kind of irritates me when Den-O fic doesn't work like Den-O, so of course when I finally got around to writing something, it doesn't work like Den-O either. 
> 
> That said, Den-O probably barely followed its own rules at the end of the day. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

**Yuuto may be a closet softie…**

Yuuto doesn’t know it yet, but when Hana is born, he will cry. Like a baby. He’ll cry even harder than _Nogami_ and that’s saying something. He’ll blubber hysterically all over the Zeroliner. Deneb will be the only person to witness Yuuto’s fall from grace, but it will still be totally embarrassing.

None of that was relevant yet, however, because Hana was still ten years old and fading into tiny grains of pale sand in the dining car of the Denliner. The Imagin were panicking and fussing, yelling and causing chaos in the dining car; Naomi was cuddling Hana forlornly; Nogami just looked a bit like he was about to throw up. Yuuto watched the proceedings with his face set in a scowl and his arms crossed grumpily over his chest, sure that he was the only one besides Owner who had figured out what was going on.

Yuuto wasn’t sure if he should be grossed out or happy that his older self was getting it on with Nogami’s sister—he certainly wasn’t jealous!—so he settled for the happy medium of picking a fight with Deneb and dragging him bodily from the Denliner. 

"Please don't misunderstand Yuuto! He is actually really sad that Kohana-chan is disappearing!" Deneb bellowed to the residents of the Denliner, bowing as contritely as he could while in a headlock.

"Shut up De-ne-bu!" Yuuto roared as he dragged his Imagin out of the sliding door and back onto the Zeroliner. Then he promptly took them both out into the city. It was early morning some time in 2009 but the streets were abnormally empty, giving Yuuto far too much time to brood. 

It wasn’t as if he begrudged himself - his older self - happiness. If he was happily banging Nogami's sister and making Hana or Kohana or whatever she was called a permanent part of this timeline, then good. It meant that Yuuto had done his job properly and Nogami's bumbling had somehow weighed in even to restore the natural order of things. It meant that Yuuto could go back to-

Back to what?

Yuuto paused in his stride, a troubled frown settling on his face as he stared unseeingly into a shop window. The bitter feeling welling up in him only seemed to increase the more he thought about it. Sakurai had his happy ending, but Yuuto was still stuck babysitting the time stream on the Zeroliner. He should be at home, playing video games, lazing around his grandmother’s house, laying outside and watching the stars every night. Nobody even remembered him now because of Sakurai’s stupid cards and now Sakurai was reaping the benefits. It wasn’t fair.

"Yuuto..." Deneb's voice rang sympathetic in his head. Yuuto scowled petulantly, giving himself a vicious noogie and growling as he stormed into the store. 

The store clerk gave him a wary look and Yuuto paused in his tirade to give her an extra steely glare. When she was suitably cowed, he stomped deeper into the shop. Surrounded by pale pastels and cutesy fluffy junk, Yuuto couldn’t have felt more out of place, but it was the smell that got to him—it made his heart pang for some ridiculous reason. It felt the same as when he went into Milk Dipper for the first time and found that his supposed future fiancée didn't recognise him, not even his name rang a bell. 

Viciously snatching an item off the shelf, Yuuto stomped over to the cash register, paid and briskly left. 

He marched halfway across town to Milk Dipper and stormed through the big wooden front doors. He wasn't surprised to find Sakurai sitting in front of the counter smiling softly at Airi as she ground coffee beans behind the counter. 

"Sakurai-kun," she greeted, as unflappable as ever, as if she saw two different versions of the same lover at the same time everyday. "Ryo-chan isn't here today..."

Yuuto shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, suddenly feeling like a fool under both their gazes. Why had he even come here? His frown deepened in embarrassment. He stiffly walked over to Airi and thrust his purchase into her hands. 

"Congratulations," he muttered.

Airi looked pleased with the gift, a stuffed bear clutching a bright yellow star to its chest, but perplexed at his words. "Congratulations... for what?"

"Tch." Yuuto turned away from them both, tapping his foot agitatedly. "Just... congratulations," he said gruffly, before turning to leave. 

He narrowly missed having his nose bashed in by the front door of Milk Dipper as Nogami walked in.

"Eh? Yuuto? What are you doing here?"

"Ryo-chan!" Airi exclaimed, circling the counter to fuss over her brother. "What's wrong?"

Nogami's eyes were rimmed red and he looked even more pitiful than he normally did, which was an incredible feat.

"K-kohana-chan..."

"Is fine," Yuuto cut in, glancing at Airi and his older self askance. "She just went back home." 

Ryotaro tipped his head in bewilderment while Airi smiled pleasantly. "Oh, that's nice," she said. 

As Yuuto left the cafe, he thought Sakurai looked like the penny had finally dropped. At least he wouldn’t get too stupid in his old age.

If Yuuto spent the following nine months or so hovering around Milk Dipper, it was all Deneb’s fault. Somehow. He found himself choking down Airi’s coffee with increasing frequency and the taste wasn’t growing on him at all. It was like torture. He almost felt like he was taking the place of her last two stalkers, who had mysteriously vanished as soon as she started showing. But Airi always had a warm smile for him when he showed up that made him feel like he was welcome. 

He always felt like he belonged when he was near Airi until the day Hana was born and he saw the new family together for the first time: Airi, Sakurai and Nogami all gathered around the new baby Hana. They were his family, but they weren’t his family _now_. Yuuto didn’t belong with them yet. That night Yuuto quietly stepped into a hospital supply closet onto the Zeroliner and vowed to never appear to Airi again.

He woke up the next morning with his eyes crusty and dry and itchy. His head was pounding something fierce and the baby screaming wasn’t helping matters at all. 

“What are you doing here?” Yuuto groaned as he eased himself off the couch. 

His older self said nothing. He just calmly walked up and placed the baby in his arms. 

Yuuto frowned at the red, wet face that was more mouth than anything at the moment. She was also a lot bigger than she had been when he left the hospital last night. He’d be really annoyed if the timeline had been screwed up again. 

“Hana-chan will be a year old tomorrow,” his older self said as if that explained everything.

Deneb appeared out of nowhere to wave a piece of Deneb candy in front of the kid’s face. She took one look at him and started screaming even louder. From the disappointed slump of his Imagin’s shoulders, Yuuto suspected that this is what had set her off in the first place. 

“Why did you bring her? Is there a problem with the timeline?”

His older self shook his head. 

“So… why are you here?” 

“Airi thought you should meet her before you go back.”

“Ah… Eh?!” 

Sakurai just reached for his daughter and tucked her neatly into the crook of his arm, then he handed Yuuto the pocket watch he carried around all the time. When he looked back up at Sakurai, he already had a Zero card in his hand.

“Wait!”

The bright sun in his eyes always woke him up before Obaa-chan did. Yuuto yawned and stretched, then sluggishly went about getting dressed for school.


End file.
